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Somali children pushed into conflicts

Al-Shabab called worst offender by report highlighting practice by factions of abducting children to wage wars.

21 Feb 2012 18:42 GMT

Rights groups are accusing Somalia's warring factions of forcing children to take part in their conflicts.

A report by Human Rights Watch, the New York-based group, says children as young as 10 are being abducted to fight on the frontlines, or used as human shields, in the African country. Al-Shabab, the anti-government Islamist group, is singled out as the worst offender.

Al Jazeera's Peter Greste reports from Nairobi, in neighbouring Kenya, where he spoke to former child soldiers who fled Somalia seeking a normal life.